In many types of emergency situations, the accurate and rapid dissemination of information is important, and in many cases can avert or reduce the severity of the emergency. The Emergency Alert System is one example of a system that is presently in use in the United States for broadcasting information about an emergency to the public. Generally, a government agency generates messages for the EAS system, which are then transmitted to EAS system equipment at radio and television broadcast stations which in turn broadcast the messages to the public. These messages may alert the public to severe weather information or other hazardous conditions about which the public needs to be informed.
There is a general problem, however, with the emergency alert system. In general, it may take hours from the time an emergency situation is reported to the authorities to the time that the emergency situation is documented, approved for dissemination and is actually broadcast. The time lag is particularly devastating in the case of child abductions and other local emergencies that are immediate threats to public welfare. In the case of child abductions, harm is most often done to the child within 2-3 hours of an abduction. In other emergency situations, prompt notification can help to contain or minimize damage.
Accordingly, there is a need to increase the speed of disseminating information about emergency situations to the public. There is a further need to ensure that the information is disseminated to as wide a number of people as possible in localities that are affected. There is a further need to increase the accuracy of emergency alerts, and involve law enforcement and other agencies in the reporting process so that the most accurate and best information is circulated as quickly as possible.